Root-digger.



N. J. HANSEN.

ROOT DIGGER.

L APPLICATION FILED FEB. H, 1915. 1,183,451, Patented May16,1916.

V+" ISI-m wir 74 iMac/fie NIELs JOHAN HANSEN, or wiwi-NEAR COPENHAGEN, DENMARK.

Boor-BIGGER.

Application filed February 11, 71915.

To all whom it may concern.'

Be it known that I, NmLs Jol-IAN HANSEN, a subject of the King of Denmark, residing at Nyvej 5, Valby, near Copenhagen, Denmark, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Root-Diggers, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to a machine for the collecting of turnips, beetroots and the like and cutting off the leaves thereof, of the type in which tapering rotating organs in the form of brushes are arranged parallelto the row of turnips and seize the leaves thereof, while simultaneously, colters liberate the roots in the well known manner by forming a deep furrow on each side of the row of roots. Each turnip thus engaged in the machine and at the same time loosened in the earth is then pulled up out of the earth by the above-indicated organs, and is delivered to the trimming apparatus b y aid of a specially shaped helical organ. This apparatus is composed of rotary knives which by means of the construction which forms the essence of the present invention, cut ofiA the foliage of each tui-nip at the required point. After the separation of the leaves, the cleaned turnips are delivered either by means of a channel in a row upon the field or there may be provided upon the machine a collecting box or the like.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 illustrates the machine in side elevation and partial vertical section. Fig. 2 is a plan view of the machine after the removal of certain parts and with other parts in section.

Referring to these drawings, 1 indicates the frame of the machine which is supported by a pair of wheels 2 and a front carriage with guiding mechanism which, as forming no part of the invention, is not illustrated in the drawing. The organs which take hold of the cleaned leaves consist of two tapering rollers 3 and 4 made of wood, metal or other suitable material. These rollers are provided with very coarse brushes 5 and 6 either of similar construction to the brushes commonly in use for large street sweepers or made of cane or round pegs of some strong and flexible wood such as ash wood or the like. The brushes 5 and 6 can be so arranged over the surface of the rollers 3 and 4: that they form helical lines thereon, and it may also be arranged that the brushes on the Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May/16, 191e.

Serial No. 7,650.

one roller 3 engage between the brushes of the roller 4 in a similar manner to the brushes of a carpet-sweeping machine, whereby the eiciency o-f the apparatus is insured. The rollers 3 and l are keyed fast upon the shafts 7 and can be rotated from the guide wheels 2 by means of a shaft and tooth-wheel system which latter imparts thereto such a rotary motion that the parts in contact rotate simultaneously upward.

Above the frame 1, there is located a gear -wheel 9 which engages with a tooth rack 10 attached to one of the road wheels 2. Around the shaft 8, the rollers 3 and L1 can travel up and down, but are held in place by the arrangement that upon. a frame 11 0f the part 12 which supports the shafts 7, there are placed adjustable drawbars, which can be moved by means of the lever 14 and the mechanism 15 and can be secured in any desired position. Between the rollers 3 and 4 there is located a screw 16 with movable threadings and preferably of the shape of a corkscrew. The screw 16 can also be formed as a helical spring, that is to say, without a screw shaft. The screw 16 is also rotated from the road wheels 2 by means of a shaft and gearing and possesses such a rotation that its underside turns in the opposite direction to the travel of the machine as indicated by the arrow in Fig. 1. Underneath the screw 16 are placed the liberating colters 17, which inthe well known manner serve to loosen the roots in the ground by cutting a pair of deep furrows, one on each side of the row of roots. At the side of the colters 17 there may be arranged lifting boards in order to raise the roots a little out of the ground. Upon a vertically placed shaft 18 which is also rotated by gearing from the road wheels 2, there is located a head piece with two or more arms or cutter holders 19. These holders carry the curved knives, the edges of which are sharp and they turn throughout their rotary motion upward with their upper ends close underneath the screw 16. The motion is communicated to the shaft 18 from the shaft 8 by means of cone gearing 21, and on the shaft 8 there is also a cone gearing 22, which rotates the screw 16. The rollers 3 and 4 are also driven by the cone gears 241 and 23, one element of each whereof is keyed upon the shaft 8.

The operation of the apparatus is as follows: When the machine is drawn forv ward, it is guided so as to have one of the rollers 3 and 4 on each side of the row of roots and the said rollers are simultaneously revolved by the motion of the road wheels 2. Thereby, the brushes 5 and 6 draw up leaves of the roots between them, while the colters 17 by aid of the lifting boards disengage the roots from the ground. rlhe roots having now been lifted a little and thereby freed from the ground are carried up suspended by the leaves between the rollers 3 and 4; the screw 16 however does not allow the root to travel up very high but it is pushed by the threading of the screw 16 in the direction of the leaf-cutting apparatus and during its passage longitudinally along the machine, the leaves of the root are so opened out by the action of the brush that substantially the same quantity of leaves come to cach side of the screw 16, the result of which is that the root when it reaches the cutters is firmly held in the machine so that it is an easy matter by aid of the cutters 2O which are rapidly revolved from the road wheels 2, so to separate the root from the foliage that it can fall to the ground or into the collecting box as aforesaid.

What I claim is 1. Improved machine for raising and topping turnips, beets and the like roots, comprising in combination a traveling frame, road wheels on said frame, gearing actuated from one of said road wheels, a plurality of shafts parallel to the direction of travel of the frame and actuated by said gearing, rotatable tapering brushes on said shafts, a helix between said brushes and capable of being revolved against the direction of rotation of one of the brushes, and means for separating the tops from the roots.

2. Improved machine for raising and topping turnips, beets and the like roots, comprising in 4combination a traveling frame, road wheels on said frame, gearing actuated from one of said road wheels, a plurality of` shafts parallel to the direction of travel of the frame and actuated by said gearing, rotatable tapering brushes on said shafts, a helix between said brushes and capable of being revolved against the direction of rotation of one of the brushes, a vertical shaft actuated by said gearing, a rotatable cutter frame keyed on said shaft and a plurality of cutters on said frame so adjusted with regard to the helix that the tops are severed from the roots.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

NIELS JOHAN HANSEN.

Witnesses:

ADOLPH CHRISTIAN NIEKEN, EIcHsAGE ANDRIEF.

opiu of this patent may be obtained for ve cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C. 

